Sour Grapes

Brand-whoring Olympics begin

This is not just going to far, it is going far too far! Apparently one cannot gain admission to any Olympic event if one is displaying the brand of any company that is not a sponsor of the games. Brian Clapper pointed me to a Cory Doctorow post of similar title (it was too good to pass up). Cory in turns points to an article from the Halifax Chronicle Herald, which reprinted it from The Sunday Times:

Strict regulations published by Athens 2004 last week dictate that spectators may be refused admission to events if they are carrying food or drinks made by companies that did not see fit to sponsor the games....

This will also apply to members of a crowd sitting next to each other wearing clothing with letters that spell out a political or religious message.

The restrictions, which have drawn criticism from Amnesty International, are even harsher for the thousands of stewards and volunteers working at Athens 2004 who have been supplied with uniforms but no shoes.

"We have to provide our own shoes and we were told that we shouldn't wear trainers with a bright logo from a sports brand which is not an official sponsor like Adidas," said one....

Kostas Giannis, a Greek sports fan, said: "I don't see why, after all the money that Greek taxpayers will end up paying to host the games, McDonald's should dictate what I can eat in my own city."

Hmmm. If the borough I live in signed up the Open Source Initiative as a sponsor for say, $1.00, could we then ban anything or anyone displaying a Microsoft logo from within the borough's boundaries?

Original post by Namenlosen Trinker at 8/12/2004 01:40:00 PM Eastern time :: 0 comment(s) ::

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